HEAD, SHOULDERS, KNEES, AND TOES!

Today at the school in San Pedro de las Huertas, my partner Marcos and I taught two classes. This is something we weren´t necessarily prepared for since it was a separate grade level than second grade, our normal grade for teaching. We were taking on Kindergarten, not much of a challenge since it was just them repeating after us, but it was a harder than second grade since they don´t know how to read and write. We pointed to different body parts and asked them what it was in Spanish, then said it in English for them to repeat. After we played a little game of ¨Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes¨ to get them up on their feet and active. Seeing them repeat each word with enthusiasm and charisma made me smile.

They value their education so much and they really love to learn, something that not many kids in the US have. Each day is a challenge, but with these kids they smile regardless of the down points in life; also something that many people in the US don´t do. If people in the US had the life and positivity that these children had, then this world would be a better place. Everyone´s heart would be warm and everyone would smile! Hearing "heds, sholdurs, nees, and tos" brightened my day and allowed to think differently on life. Just live it to the fullest and value every aspect because some don´t have as much as we do, yet they go on with more than a smile; they go on with a positive attitude.

The Food....La Comida

At first I was worried about how was going to speak Spanish in a country where Spanish is the fist language. I thought i was doomed. Once I got to Guatemala, I learned that the language barrier was going to be the least of my worries. I learned that people schedule their day based on the meals of the day. What? In the U.S I eat whenever I want and I don´t have to be home to eat. This is different in Guatemala. I learned that I have to be home for every meal. I wake up and then eat breakfast. I go to school and then go home to eat lunch. After that I go out to teach the young children in San Pedro and then go home to eat dinner. I feel a little awkward with such a big change.
The food is good but different. I am eating things that I can´t even pronounce. The food isn´t as bad as I thought it would be. I am getting used to the bread which used to have a funny taste to me but is starting to taste pretty good. I love their chicken soup aka sopa de pollo. They also serve the best rice and bean aka arroz y frijoles. Yesterday I ate my first pupusa and it was an interesting experience. I hope to learn how to cook some of the Guatemalan meals. I am also excited to see what else I will learn in Guatemala.
****Written by Androlissa

First day of teaching 2nd grade

Today was my first day teaching 2nd grade, and teaching in general. The students were great! I had a great time going over alphabet with the kids. The students were enthusiastic about learning. This was important to me becuase it showed how much the time we spent with them ment to them. At the same time it was sad when the students were asking if we were going back. It was sad becuase it showed just that one hour with them made a diffrence. I also feel in love with them. They are the most adorable kids in the world.

by. Marcos Feliciano

El Cerro de la Cruz = Dope

What´s good world? It´s ya boy Tommy here coming at you all the way from Antigua, Guatemala. So far the trip has been legit. I´m finally getting used to the time change here, as well the climate change too. It´s really hot and humid alot of the time, but the nights are cool. Personally, I think the coolest thing we´ve done so far is climb El Cerro de la Cruz. El Cerro de la Cruz is a very large hill on the edge of Antigua, famous for it´s view. From the top, I was able to see the entire town of Antigua, as well as the volcanoes around it. The view was extraordinary, and beats anything I´ve ever seen back home. We were also fortunate enough to see a volcanoe erupt right in front of us. It´s most definitely a ¨buena vista¨. Although the initial climb up the hill was a bit tough, it was well worth the hike because the sight was beautiful. I´ll upload some pictures later. Overall I´m having an awesome time, and I´ll keep ya´ll posted for sure. Spurlock signin´out. Peace.

First Day of Spanish Classes

Today was the first day of Spanish classes at Sevilla. At first it was kind of awkward just because we went with a random person that we had just met. But then, we broke the ice by talking about our families and certain hobbies, etc. I liked the fact that we had our own personal teachers that helps us with what we need work on personally. I can jus tell by today that my spanish is improving. These Spanish classes will greatly help me and everyone else with teaching the kids at San Pedro English!

By: Tasha Silencieux

The Market

Hi this is Karlrick aka Ricardo. The time here has been interesting and fun. There are many things here that remind me of Haiti and Jacmel, my dad´s home town. One thing that seemed the same was the market. The market here is filled with people and things. When you go there is hardly get any personal space and that reminded me of my home in Haiti. The market has many interesting things that you would not find in any other place but the market. The smell of the market maybe a bit bad because of the combination of the meat and everybody´s sweat but whatever you need you can find in the market whether it be shoes and clothes to raw meat. You can see people selling remote control´s for TV´s with a lot of antena´s in their hand the meat smells and funny thing is that they sell the raw meet next to the clothes store. It is a pretty interesting thing to see a clothes seller next to a meat seller.

By Karlrick Laforest

Bonding Time (5/31/09)

On the eve of our first weekend here in Antigua, Guatemala we found ourseleves sharing some time together, oddly enough in the courtyard of a McDonalds (Yea, the McDonalds here have nice gardens and courtyards). We followed through on our normal routine of sharing the day´s events and simply discussing our feelings towards the new and unique enviornment. We talked about the day´s hike up to Cerro de la Cruz, discussed our feelings towards the following day´s teaching and learning, and simply shared how we were feeling.

Towards the end of our routine time of sharing with each other, gears shifted and as we became more relaxed with one another, Ms.Lemoine introduced a game for us to play called, ¨Celebrities¨. The game was an odd blend of charades, taboo, and like games where we piled a list of celebrities, and then we went through rounds where teams(which we naturally chose to be Boys vs. Girls) had to guess as many of the celbrities as we could within a two minute span. Before long, everyone was sucked into the game, shouting names of celbrities at the top of their longs in the middle of a McDonalds. The celebrities ranged from Pikatchu, to Mr.Carolan, and all drew a variety of memorable things done to get them identified, most humorous in the rounds of charades.

Overall, we probably spent nearly two hours shouting and laughing in this McDonalds courtyard. surprisingly, the worst we recieved were looks of curiosity from the guards, but otherwise we went surprisingly undisturbed. This time spent together was highly refreshing, and I feel like we will be able to draw many memories (Tommy´s whinning by yelling ¨No, no, no!¨, in frustration) from this simple activity which drew us all together in a new way, and I only look forward to more time like this with my classmates and chaperones.

Here´s a picture of us starting the activities.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Stuff.Alex.Did.kool/JuniorJourney


ALL THE PICTURES I TOOK IN GUATEMALA!!!!!!!!!!!
CHECK IT OUT AMIGOS